Rashad Evans not likely for divisional drop to face Anderson Silva

Former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans is likely several big wins away from competing for the title again. Earlier this year, “Suga” was handed a decisive decision defeat to Jon Jones for the belt he once wore and is essentially at the back of the contendership line as a result.

Over the weekend, after witnessing middleweight king Anderson Silva handle Chael Sonnen, Evans sent out a message via Twitter that he was willing to face “The Spider.” Unfortunately for fans, manager Glenn Robinson has put the brakes on talk of his fighter heading down to the division.

“He has no plans to drop to 185,” wrote Robinson in a text to MMA Junkie. “He was just saying he’s not afraid to fight anyone.”

In recent weeks Evans mentioned Silva being the only fight he would drop to middleweight for, implying the possibility “Suga” ‘Shad was truly interested in doing so. Now, it looks more likely that Evans will remain at 205 and leave Silva awaiting new challengers from within the 185-pound division.

Personally, I’d rather see Silva come up to 205 for this fight. Silva should wait and see what happens with Lombard and Boestch, if Tim beats Hector then we dont have a clear cut contender at MW, let Stann and Bisping fight it out and let Belcher find his place in the mix and while that’s goin on lets see Silva start testing the waters at 205.

So yeah, the Rashad thing was just a hypothetical someone threw against the wall and Rashad answered it the only way he really could… uh, yeah I’d fight one of the all time greats if the opportunity presented itself.

Lombard really needs to come thru with a big debut. If he KOs Boetsch (or some other form of dominant victory) then it sets up a pretty interesting matchup with Silva.

Otherwise, I agree with superdave’s thoughts about Silva throwing his hat in at 205 again. With the current outlook in each division, it would really be a shame if these two didn’t fight each other. Seems like it would end up being one of those much-debated “what ifs” for years to come. But it’s gotta happen sooner than later, cuz next time Silva steps in the cage he’ll be less than 30 months from hitting age 40. I don’t care how great he is, age hits like a sumbitch.

And further compounding things in this scenario is that each year Silva gets to the big 4-0, Bones is a year closer to hitting his prime (dude hasn’t even turned 25!). Jones beating a 40+ year old Silva just wouldn’t carry the same luster.

I wonder if Silva has any real interest in going the 205 route for a clash with Bones… or if he’ll just continue obliterating the MW division for a couple more years and then hang up the gloves when his UFC streak reaches 20.

I would completely expect that fighting at 205 was not at all top of mind for Silva, with his sights dead set on Chael these past several months. But now that it’s done with, and he has some time to decompress, I think he’ll be much more willing to entertain various options. Not sure what he might not have liked about 205 the times he fought there… I don’t think any fighter minds not having to cut weight, and between his two previous LHW fights he got less than 5 minutes of combined action, so it’s not like he was challenged at all.

It’ll take some time for the picture to become more clear. Anderson gets a much deserved break, the Munoz/Weidman and Lombard/Boetsch fights will have a big impact on the MW standings, and then the UFC can start kicking around ideas and make their pitch to Silva’s camp. If I’m the UFC I’m definitely pushing for a scenario that leads to a Bones-Silva superfight. As usual, money talks. Put enough $$ on the table and I guarantee everyone involved will at least listen. So we shall see…

Silva doesn’t want Jones, and that isn’t likely to change. There are a few interesting fights for him at 185 ( from among Lombard, Munoz, Bisping, Stann, Boetsch). After that, provided GSP returns to awesome form, our best hope for a superfight is Spider vs Rush.

If GSP comes back and takes out Condit and Kampman, I think he might happily move up to 185 to make way for teammate Rory MacDonald to possibly make a run at the 170 title.

Then GSP does everything Chael did only better, does more damage, and wins. GSP goes down in history as the undisputed greatest fighter ever.

There might have been a little bit of wishful thinking towards the end there.

Silva hasn’t wanted Jones for the same reason GSP hasn’t wanted Silva — you’re asking one guy to leave the division he’s comfortable in and currently dominating, in order to move up a weight class to take on the top dog there who has the built-in advantage of already being settled in at that weight. For the guy moving up it means a significant change to his diet, training, etc… basically shaking up his entire lifestyle. So it’s only natural a GSP or Silva wouldn’t be eager to make the switch…

But like I mentioned above, money talks. I don’t care who you are.

So if the UFC really wants a superfight to happen they’ve got the resources to help set things in motion. I was always skeptical of the GSP-Silva matchup cuz GSP is so much smaller. His frame is just not on par with the taller & lankier Silva and Jones… those dudes are just naturally bigger. And even if it could have worked, I’d say the GSP injury really squashed the superfight with Silva.

As GSP has often talked about, his approach to moving up would require a methodical & drawn out process to allow him to gradually become acclimated. And he’d need at least one fight at MW before squaring off with Silva. So to recap, you’re talking about GSP finalizing his current rehab, then realistically fighting Condit and Kampmann/Hendricks (plus you know he still wants to give Diaz a beating), then a “warm up” fight at MW… and then he’d finally be ready for Silva. I just don’t want the UFC to be hyping one of these superfights when old man Silva is blowing out 40 candles.

But Silva-Jones seems more realistic. If Lombard loses, which although I don’t think will happen wouldn’t be a complete shocker either, then I’d like to see him ditch the MW division for good. Guys like Munoz and Bisping are very good fighters but they’d be massive underdogs against Silva. Brian Stann seems like a great guy but he’d get absolutely worked over…similiar to Leben & Forrest, it would look like a sparring match. I’d like to think Belcher could be a realistic challenger within a year or so, but that feels like a bit of wishful thinking and again, with Anderson starting to approach age 40, I don’t want to watch his career wind down by continuing to clear out the fringe contenders at MW while hoping that another worthy contender might fall into the mix. They’ve gotta start pushing the envelope with Silva’s next (and possibly last) 3-5 fights.

Having to always wonder what would have happened if Silva & Jones faced off… that would be a bummer for fight fans, mang. So make it happen, Dana.